


Pilgrim's Passage

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Series: Mercverse stories [3]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe, Backstory, Children, Gen, Harm to Children (but the threat is not acted upon), Mercverse, Prompt Fic, implied past war crimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-25
Updated: 2007-01-25
Packaged: 2017-12-26 04:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/961806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A traveler meets a boy on the bridge to Nibelheim. Prompt: <em>Um, how about something for Mercverse? 'Cause I seriously never get tired of those... Le'see... I can't help but wonder what happened the first time Cloud met one of the Cetra. Did they recognize who Cloud's father likely is? And if they did, how did they react?</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Pilgrim's Passage

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set in the [Mercverse AU](http://mercverse.livejournal.com/) ([which has since moved to Insane Journal](http://asylums.insanejournal.com/mercverse/)), created by [Katrina](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Katrina/profile), aka [icedark_elf](http://icedark-elf.insanejournal.com/). Here is her summary of the AU:
> 
> _The Mercverse is a FF7 AU world spawned by various pics people sent me or I found roaming the mass of sites I can't understand. They were full of shinies. Some of the pics are[here](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v308/sinfulgreed/Mercs/). If you know of others, send them my way and I'll be more than willing to go "ooh, shiny" and probably write more fic._
> 
> _The universe is completely open. The only canon is the following: Cloud is immortal, Sephiroth is a mage adept, Zack is more than human, and Vincent and Chaos are half-demon twin brothers. Other than that...have at thee. Want to bring in other fandoms, ignore everything else besides what I just said was canon, or anything else? Feel free to do so._
> 
> The participating authors later agreed on some other bits of canon -- Cloud is obsessed with tea; Zack was a street rat in Midgar before Cloud adopted him; Cloud is related to the Shinra royal family; Aeris and Tifa work in a nightclub; the world is an uneasy balance of fantasy and high-tech; neither demons nor Cetra are native to this world, and a couple thousand years ago they fought a massive war; Cloud is probably Jenova's grandson -- but those are less 'fixed,' so to speak. (Also, a lot of the backstory was my own invention, so I'm never sure how firmly it was adopted by other participants.)

The little boy, blond and slight and sharp-boned, sits on the narrow suspension footbridge over a gorge and swings his feet through the air. The ground is nearly fifty meters below him, more than enough for a fall to be fatal, but he is unafraid.

A traveler approaches the bridge, walking toward Nibelheim along the upland trail, the one that winds through mountain villages and is often barely wide enough for two men to pass each other. "Hello," he says softly, not wanting to startle the boy and make him fall.

"Hi!" the boy says, scrambling to his feet. "You're not from Eifelheim, or Jotunberg, or even Eigerspitze. How'd you find the trail?" He is quite sure of this. He knows everyone who lives within twenty miles of Nibelheim in all directions. His mother likes to travel during the summers, and the boy is something of a local curiosity, so the villagers are always interested in meeting him and seeing how he's grown.

This man, with his moss-green eyes, his sharp-boned face, his slender hands, his long brown hair, doesn't look like the solid, steady people of the mountains. He doesn't _feel_ like them either. Something about him makes the boy's spine and fingers tingle, like the pressure before a bolt of lightning.

"I like the mountains," the traveler says, which is not precisely an answer. "I'm a healer," he adds. "I work with animals, trying to fix some of the great war's more subtle effects."

"The monsters?" asks the boy.

"Yes," the traveler says. "They were ordinary animals once, before magic twisted them. Sometimes I can heal them before the changes go too far, and if I can't heal them, I can tell people which animals not to breed." It's his private penance, for his part in the war, for his people's unforgivable pride, but he keeps that to himself. He doesn't want any worship or hatred from the humans he walks among.

The traveler steps onto the bridge, feeling the planks sway. The boy balances effortlessly against the motion, but the traveler clings to the rope hand-line for safety.

"You really aren't from around here," the boys says, laughing. He scrambles to the end of the bridge, sending a vertical wave thrashing through the planks. The traveler freezes, waits for equilibrium to return, shuffles forward once more.

"It's better if you run," the boy advises.

"I think I'll keep on this way," the traveler says. After a minute, he reaches solid ground and sighs in relief.

"Are you going to Nibelheim?" the boy asks.

"Yes," says the traveler.

"I know a shortcut!" the boy says. He bites his lip, and then decides to take a risk -- the traveler is polite and his mother always likes to meet travelers. "Do you want to come with me? We can have lunch with my mother, and you can spend the night with us. There isn't always room to stay in the village." He offers his hand.

The traveler looks down at the earnest boy, considers the trust extended to a stranger -- such a rarity in this war-ravaged world -- and smiles. "I'd be glad to meet your mother," he says, and he reaches out to grasp the boy's hand.

The tingle jolts through the boy's body; his breath escapes in a gasp. The traveler's green eyes widen in shock and his fingers tighten around the small hand.

"You! But she had only three sons..." He stares at the boy, shifting from amusement to suspicion. Perhaps there is no trust. Perhaps this is a trap. He lets go, steps back, raises his hands in preparation for soul-stripping magic.

"My mother only has one son, and that's me," the boy says, confusion painted across his face and in his clear blue eyes. "But my uncle wants her to marry Lord Malfoy, so maybe I'll have little brothers soon. Or a sister -- I'd like a sister."

"Who is your mother?" the traveler asks, still wary.

"Lady Shinra!" the boy says promptly. "Everybody knows _that_." Then he frowns. "I wish I knew who my father was, too, but she won't tell me. I think he must be dead, though, because sometimes she cries at night when she thinks I'm sleeping, and once she said she wished he could have seen me. I wish I could see him, too." Everyone else in Nibelheim has a father.

"We're a little bit alike, then," the traveler says, lowering his hands. "I never knew my father either. But I'm sure his spirit is waiting for me in the Promised Land, and I'm sure your father is watching over you as well." It's a small lie -- he doubts that Jenova's sons had the capacity to care for anyone besides their mother -- but this boy seems ignorant of his heritage, and whatever power sleeps in his blood may never wake. The war is finished. There's no need to restart it over a child, not when the boy's very existence is, in many ways, his own people's fault.

He will not ruin another innocent life.

"Let's go visit your mother. I think we both could use some lunch," the traveler says, and offers his hand again. The boy takes it, never realizing how close he came to death.

They walk toward Nibelheim together.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [yuenoclow](http://yuenoclow.livejournal.com/).


End file.
